Administrative Associate - Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering

The Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering in the Statler College at West Virginia University is currently accepting applications for an Administrative Associate.

About the Opportunity

This position serves as the face of the Department of Chemical & Biomedical Engineering working closely with faculty, staff and students. The incumbent will provide administrative support following established university, college, and departmental policies, procedures and methods. The department is two programs (ChE and BMEG) with 16 tenure-track faculty, 3 teaching faculty, 3 classified staff, and currently 3 research assistant professors, post-doctoral fellows and research associates with approximately 200 undergraduate students and 65+ graduate students. This position will handle the departmental State and Foundation financial accounts.

We strongly believe in work-life balance and keeping time for things we love outside our work. WVU offers generous benefits, including:

• 37.5-hour work week
• 13 paid holidays (staff holiday calendar)
• 15 annual leave (vacation) days per year or more based on years of service (employee leave)
• 18 sick days per year (for when you're ill, for when you need time to care for sick family, for your own, or your family's, regularly scheduled medical appointments. Who is family for the purpose of this leave? A lot of people in your life including immediate relatives and in-laws as well as others considered to be members of your household living under the same roof)
• WVU offers a range of health insurance and other benefits
• 401(a) retirement savings with 6% employee contribution match, eligibility to continue health insurance, and other retiree perks. Looking for more retirement benefits information? Check out retirement health insurance benefits, retirement income, and FAQ's.
• Wellness programs

What You'll Do

• Perform administrative and supportive duties to ensure office operations. Answer telephone, screen calls and communicate messages to faculty, staff and students by determine the nature of the call and responding to general inquiries or referring the call to the appropriate staff member.
• Face of the department - first contact with visitors to the department. Determine nature of visit and directs visitor to the appropriate staff or faculty member. Help students resolve problems associated with scheduling, getting software licenses, finding classrooms, etc. Any maintenance/facilities issues are reported to this position to make the appropriate contact to fix the issue.
• Pickup and dissemination of mail to faculty, staff, and student mailboxes.
• Work with faculty coordinators to manage departmental seminar series. Includes dissemination of schedule, bio and abstract to both internal and external individuals. Assisting in travel arrangements for the seminar speakers. If seminar is via zoom, then setting up zoom links.
• Coordinate schedules, room reservations, travel arrangements, etc. for faculty candidates coming to campus for interviews or setting up numerous zoom links for virtual interviews.
• Write/edit departmental newsletter (yearly). Includes searching for appropriate pictures and articles for the newsletter.
• Maintain department website content.
• Event Planner -- Plan and coordinate special events such as CBE Industrial Visiting Committee, ChE Academy of Distinguished Alumni and Faculty Retreats. Plan/coordinate/host the meetings including coordinating menus, making hotel reservations as necessary. Also coordinates the annual commencement reception for faculty, students and guests.
• Work closely with the Academy of Chemical Engineers Executive Committee to send out invitation letters, etc. to new inductees yearly. Provide administrative support for the nomination process using Election Buddy Software. Set up zoom meeting for the committee as needed and provide insight into the meeting and banquet planning process. Maintain alumni database to help with the nomination process.
• Assist faculty with promotion and tenure files using Digital Measures. Input read only information into the files as necessary.
• Work closely with departmental Graduate Admissions Committee to monitor graduate applications and compose departmental offer letters or rejection letters as necessary for both ChE and BMEG programs. Serve on the review committee to enter decisions into CRM (TargetX).
• Use 25Live for conference and classroom scheduling for departmental meetings for faculty and students.
• Maintain departmental alumni database - updating addresses and adding new alumni.
• Perform purchasing duties in Mountaineer Marketplace and Amazon for the department as backup to the Office Administrator and Technician.
• Maintain and monitors departmental Foundation and Departmental State accounts. Maintain record of expenditures and receipts, compose thank you letters to donors on a monthly basis; make sure expenditures are within the scope of the parameters set up in the various Foundation endowments/accounts.
• Serve as Departmental Card Coordinator for WV State Procurement Cards, WVU Research Corporation Procurement Cards and Foundation Procurement Card associated with the department. Has knowledge and ability to edit PCard charges and process travel reimbursements, etc. in Chrome River/MyExpenses. Maintain receipts on all Procurement Cards. Communicate policy changes and proper use of the card to cardholders.
• Supervision and monitoring of departmental work study students and/or hourly workers as delegated by faculty supervisors.
• Process and submit graduate student tuition waivers - checking to make sure they are registered for the correct number of hours before submission of waivers.
• Coordinate Textbook Adoptions, working with faculty to make sure the adoptions are submitted, submitting adoptions for courses that do not require any materials and helping faculty with their adoption if necessary.
• Maintain all bulletin boards in the department.
• Tabulate data for assessment/ABET at the end of the semester.
• Coordinate with the department chair to set up telephone or in-person meetings by determining and confirming available dates, obtaining and conveying accurate details and ensuring that necessary files or documents are available in a timely manner.
• Provide updated information to the department chair in order to maintain video boards located on the 4th floor.
• Submit requests for ChemCAD software authorization for students as requested.
• Obtain temporary parking permits for departmental visitors and works with WVU Transportation for parking issues when large groups come to campus.
• Participate in training and professional development sessions to enhance job performance.
• Perform other related/assigned duties such as coordinating United Way Campaign for the Department.

Pay Grade: 14

• Associate Degree.
• A minimum of two (2) years of progressive experience working in an office environment providing supportive/administrative duties. Keeping abreast of new technology.
• Any equivalent combination of related education and/or experience will be considered.
• All qualifications must be met by the time of employment.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Ability to work as part of a team dedicated to success and excellence.
• Ability to communicate effectively in written and spoken English.
• Good keyboarding and computer skills.
• Organizational and time management skills required to manage multiple project and workload.
• Ability to operate standard office equipment.
• Knowledge of office methods, procedures and protocol.
• Ability to work independently.
• Ability to learn and apply effectively the policies, procedures and guidelines affecting the position and work unit to which assigned.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality.

West Virginia University is a place of purpose and community. We take pride in our profound impact on the state of West Virginia and are committed to the personal and professional growth of our employees.

From the groundbreaking R1 research at our flagship campus in Morgantown to the career-oriented programs at WVU Potomac State in Keyser, and the technology-intensive programs at WVU Tech in Beckley, the contributions of WVU employees resonate across the state, touching lives and shaping futures.

At WVU, you will discover a supportive community that champions work-life balance and fosters a collaborative atmosphere. Our core values - service, curiosity, respect, accountability and appreciation - unite us as Mountaineers.

Join us at West Virginia University, where your work will make a lasting impact. To learn more about WVU, visit wvu.edu.

West Virginia University is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We invite all qualified applicants regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or Veteran status.